The Labor enquirer., 1887-05-14

system is-a tremendous, disgraceful, In
famousthing. Under this system the wife
becomes the competitor of the husband,
and the boys and girls become the COM
petitorssof their parents in the market.
This alss is portentious.
In the fifth place another revolutionary
force oflour time, one which has special
bearing, isthat intercommunication which
simplifes and facilitates the transfer Of
hordes of people from the other side to
this country: In single year, 1852, over
100000 leopie swarmed from Europe up
the bay of'Fsw' York. At this very time
they are arriving at Castle Garden in such
multitudes as to threaten to outdo even
the record of that year. Among them
are Scandinavians, Germans, Irish and even
Italy is vomiting almost daily shiploads
of emigrants at Castle Garden. The Jews
that crossed the Red Sea under Moses are
crossing the Atlantic now in masses that
Moses never dreamed of. The "Slavs"
have also crossed in such numbers until
one would think, if he were to pay partic-
ular attention to the east side of New York
that he was in Slavonic city.
In the sixth place and finally, all these
tremendous agencies are in full play in
our midst, and what are we going to do
about thems The brains of the plebian
are sprouting. The masses are beginning
to think. Calihkn has been introduced to
Cadmus and they are now on speaking
terms. The working people are reading
the daily papers. In the 18th century
but few of the workmen could read. In
England there were not 100000 men who
knew the alphabet. There were not 1,OOO,-
600 mer in France who knew the alphabet
and even in America in some parts of
Yankeedom there was great deal of ig-
norance. Now this reading of newspapers,
this action on the brain of the under
world is a momentous incident. When /
was boy all we ever did was to read the
ship news to see if there had been any
vessels arrived during the night. So say
my friends, Caliban is reading. What is
he reading? He is reading tbs news. Let
him read. 1t don't much matter what he
yeads Ut will put his brain in action.
What will Caliban do when his brain is
fully fructifeds Wait, old fogy, and you
will know. But, mark you, Jay Gould 4
Co., when the clod hopper reads, then the
clod hopper is lost. When the gutter
snipe's head becomes knowledge box,
then the gutter-snipe is impossible. These,
then, my friends, are among the revolu-.
tionary, Social industrial forces of our
times.
"Oh, there is something wrong around
here" groans Caliban, as his brain sprouts.
"There is something wrong about here"
groans Caliban; and his groan rises to
growl, and his growl rises to roar, as he
rears himself and glares at the manacle he
is ready to break against the wrongs of
which they were wrought.
The plebian hordes of the under world
are beginning to feel something trouble
some in their heads. When Caliban is su-
premely ignorant he is but step higher
than the pig in his trough or the sheep on
the hillside. But" heard man say to
day." labor has no grievance" Is it not
grievance, would like to ask, when the
iaborer sees the fruit of his labor 90 to
swell the Golfers of others than himself?
Is it not grievance when the few men
grow rich by the uninterrupted toll Of the
manyS So 1 say that Caliban sees the diff
ficulty and is preparing to grapple with
it. Well, my friends, what will Caliban
dor He should, in the first place follow
the lead of the times by organizing his
forces. He should join hands with his
brother wherever his brother is found. He
sees that the land has been seized by rack
renters, who rack him for the right to live
on it. This is the land question. He
should wrest from the hands of the men
who have seized upon them the coal, iron,
timber, Stone and all the necessaries of
life. He sees that the recent inventionsB
have all been seized upon and turned to
the advantage of the few as against the
many, and these he should wrest from the
hands of those who have unlawfully OBJ
tanned possession of them. he should
take unto himself, either through the gov
ernment or through the method Of Bro.
Tucker of Boston, what riehtfully belongs
to him. These may seem to some like
mere vagaries. To those that think so !
say all right. Our duty is, however, def
nitive. Whenever nature makes motion
let us second it. You may not believe but
the work is even now more than half done
and it is even now going forward with q
tremendous momentum.